HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — To a newcomer, the 44th annual RBC Heritage Media Day on Monday might have seemed at first blush like standard stuff. Defending champion Brandt Snedeker returned to Harbour Town Golf Links in praise of the event, golf course and community.

Tournament officials and sponsors used words such as tradition, nostalgia and, yes, heritage, to compliment a tournament that began in 1969 with a victory by the legendary Arnold Palmer.

When tournament director Steve Wilmot said, “We’re history,” he meant it in the best sense.

However, Wilmot and every staffer, volunteer, committee member, townsperson, PGA Tour official and golfer with perspective on the past two years knows how close the Heritage was to becoming history, as in no more.

Snedeker, in fact, faced the possibility of being the last Heritage champion when the 2011 event was staged without a title sponsor.

“It scared me to think about that,” he said Monday.

The Heritage Classic Foundation footed most of the bill and local governments chipped in about $1 million after previous corporate sponsor Verizon fulfilled its contract in 2010, but there were no heroes ready to step in immediately.

The courting continued, as the tournament worked with the PGA Tour knowing that a title sponsor had to be found or there would be no 2012 event nor the tens of millions of dollars in economic impact.

“I didn’t want to lose it on my watch,” Wilmot said Monday. “I didn’t just feel the weight of the foundation. I felt the weight of the community, South Carolina, golf in general, the Tour. Not just me personally. ... I took it personally.”

A self-described “upbeat, positive” person, he tried to drum up optimism. This is the Heritage, on Hilton Head Island, and it’s too good to lose. Yet he admitted, “It got to a point we didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Then in June came the announcement that Royal Bank of Canada signed on as title sponsor, and the Boeing Co. committed to presenting sponsor — each for five years through 2016. Jim Little, RBC’s chief brand and marketing office, said the company had earlier made a similar commitment with the RBC Canadian Open when it lacked sponsorship for two years.

“There’s something about helping that really is in our DNA,” Little said. “It wasn’t just pure marketing. It wasn’t just the tournament was available. We kept adding up two and two and it kept adding up to five or six. We asked the players what was wrong here, and they said, ‘absolutely nothing.’

“So it felt like a perfect moment to come in, get a tournament at great value and partner with Boeing and bring all of the marketing engine into this thing over the next five years, and we’re going to have a great time doing that.”

The idea of a defunct Heritage would “be crazy to think about,” Snedeker said.

“I think a big reason why it’s here is because of the history and the player support, and the support from the community,” he said. “It was a scary possibility.”

And frustrating, he said, for the players, who talked at last year’s tournament about its possible demise on the tour schedule.

“We love coming here,” Snedeker said. “We think that at the end of the day, if the players support something enough, the tour should be able to work out whatever minor details, and luckily, that’s what ended up happening.”

Maybe it was partly luck, but Wilmot repeatedly credited “a lot of people” for keeping the Heritage going, including the town of Hilton Head for buying television advertising.

“It still hasn’t hit me,” he said. “I’m sitting here and I get nervous like it was my first media day. Here’s my 26th. I lost sleep over the weekend. I didn’t sleep a wink last night.”

After noting a golf magazine’s recent survey of golfers listed the Heritage as their second favorite event after the Masters, Wilmot said he and the organization were “pleasantly caught ... off guard.”

“It’s amazing to think we were almost off the schedule.”

Notes

Commitments for the event announced Monday included the No. 1 player in the world, Luke Donald, who lost in a playoff to Snedeker at the 2011 Heritage.

Also signing on were four players with PGA Tour titles as well a history of playing in the nearby Players Amateur: Bill Haas, former Georgia Tech players Matt Kuchar and Bryce Molder, and former Georgia Bulldog Chris Kirk.

Wilmot also announced that two exemptions have been accepted — one by Mike Weir, the first left-handed Masters champion (2003) and the first Canadian to win one of golf’s majors. Also, Clemson’s Corbin Mills earned an automatic exemption as the 2011 Players Amateur champion.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Brandt Snedeker is part of an enclave of PGA Tour members who have homes on St. Simons Island, a very golf-oriented locale in Georgia.

The list also includes Davis Love III, Lucas Glover, Jonathan Byrd, Boo Weekley and Savannah native Brian Harman, a 23-year-old rookie. They are all clients of Crown Sports Management, which on its website lists 15 PGA Tour, five Nationwide Tour and three mini-tour players.

Snedeker said Monday that they feel part of a team, like when they played in college and unlike what most pros experience as individuals.

“We all kind of root for each other, help each other out,” said Snedeker, 31. “Brian’s a young kid on tour. It can be tough for a rookie out there if you don’t know anybody.”

When he was a younger player, Snedeker said Love and other players weren’t shy about sharing advice, and he does the same with Harman.

“We try to look out for him, give him some advice, what you should look out for, what you shouldn’t look out for and what to focus on,” he said, “and try to help him over some of those learning curves you’re going to have as a rookie and try to give him any kind of advantage we can give him out there. He’s a great kid with a ton of talent. He’ll be out there and he’ll be fine.

Snedeker, who won the Farmers Insurance Open on Jan. 26-29, is ranked seventh on the PGA Tour money leaders ($1,477,879) and seventh in FedExCup points (716). Harman, also after five events, is 101st in money ($124,239) and 96th in points (92).